Broken Coda
by ZenWriterZero
Summary: The perfect possible future has been achieved. The journey has ended, or did it ever really conclude in the first place?  "Something has gone very very wrong."  "With what?"  "Everything."
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Andromeda and I sure as hell DO NOT own Andromeda Coda, which is written and owned by Robert Hewitt Wolfe. This fanfiction is inspired by his absolutely genius script that they should have gone with in the show (it would have made seasons 3 through oh so terrible 5 much better) Granted I'll be making allusions and thinly and not so thinly veiled references but understand I do not own it at all. I make no profit from this at all. I just want to write a story. Sorry about all of that I just don't want to get sued or anything like that. Or taken off this site. I like writing fanfiction. Ok now, without any further ado, please read, review and oh so enjoy!

Coda

They had done it.

After 5 long years of traveling, fighting, death, mistakes, gains, losses and everything in between. After 5 years of the universe throwing every nasty trial it could at them, bad luck bad breaks and thousands of bad guys, heartbreak and even each other on occasion, they had done it, they won.

The Commonwealth was restored, the Abyss and its legions of Magog were no more, Tarn Vedra had been found and had rejoined the known worlds. Everything was as it should be, the perfect possible future was achieved, and the journey, the journey that had lasted so long was at its conclusion.

And like at the end of all journeys, the heroes went their separate ways to the peace they had wanted. Forever bound together by their experiences, bonds of friendship, loyalty and love, they still parted.

After the final battle, they partied like they never had before. Harper must have set a record for drinking Sparky Colas. And Rhade probably would have drunk all of them under the table had Rommie not stopped him from falling back into his alcoholic habits. There was dancing on the Andromeda (Rommie even had the worker androids doing the robot) there were fireworks that they watched from the obs deck (courtesy of Andromeda's rather serious holographic self who also joined the festivities) there was even a karaoke contest that had tied between Trance, Beka and Doyle.

And after the party (and the required day of recovery) they had met one more time to say their goodbyes.

There were hugs and even a few tears as one by one, they left. Rhade went back to his family on Terazed. He said he wasn't sure if he wanted to retire as an admiral of the Commonwealth or not but he would talk it over with his loved ones. But one thing was for sure, he would be damned if he was ever separated from them again.

Beka, as the matriarch of the Nietzschians, was going to head to Neitzschian worlds to confirm her new status. DNA tests were to be had and verified, after that, she was pretty sure she was going to be Nietzschian royalty. A thought that didn't displease her.

Harper was going with Rhade to Terazed. The Commonwealth had offered him a high ranking engineer position in their fleet. With a chance to still be able to serve on the Andromeda.

Doyle had decided to remain on Tarn Vedra, or Seefra as she had known it. It was still her home no matter what her origins were, and the reconstruction efforts could go more smoothly with her help.

Trance had been a bit uncertain about her plans. She had completed what she had set out to do, found the perfect possible future and beat the Abyss. She had said that she was trying to choose between "going home" or traveling a bit more. Either way, she said she would never forget any of them. And Harper even cried a bit when he was parting from his best friend.

And as for Captain Dylan Hunt. He resigned from the Commonwealth. Deciding to live on Tarn Vedra to restore it to the paradise it had once been. He was tired from his journeys, and since his task was complete, he felt it was time lay down his force lance and live out the rest of his days in peace.

The Andromeda Ascendant was still the pride of the Commonwealth fleet, she would return Terazed to be assigned a new crew and a new captain. Some rumors stated that Rhade had a shot at the position.

After the crew had said their goodbyes, Rommie, the Andromeda's android avatar hugged Dylan goodbye, and even Holo Rommie and Screen Rommie seemed sad to see him go.

But it wasn't until Dylan was out of the ship that Rommie let the tears fall. They weren't tears of overwhelming sadness or loss, but tears that came from parting. She was going to miss him, and all of them. No matter who the Commonwealth assigned to her next, these individuals, Beka, Harper, Trance, and to an extent, Rhade and maybe even Doyle would always be her crew. And Dylan Hunt, even to her most logical aspect, would always be her captain…

Memories accompanied each crewmember as they exited the ship, but it was Dylan who lingered the longest on those memories. A console Harper fixed, a corridor where he and Beka fought Magog, the bridge where he and his best friend had fought to the death, the core room where his crew had a surprise birthday party for him. So many memories lined every part of this ship, so much history and struggle.

Would others be able to feel what had occurred on this ship? Would they be able to feel all the emotions of the moment that had taken place in a certain corridor? Unlikely, but some people like to think that that actions leave an imprint on places where they happened. And Dylan had to admit, he kind of liked that idea.

So with one final look around as he neared the exit, Dylan smiled at all the memories, good and bad as the nostalgia took its course.

"Goodbye Andromeda."

With that he exited the airlock and entered into the next part of his life.

Andromeda appeared on the nearest screen and projected her holographic self where Dylan had stood and Rommie entered into the room as well.

"Goodbye Dylan," they said as one.

"We never did tell him…" the holograph began.

"We don't need to," Rommie interrupted. "In a way he knows."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm the emotional one remember? Believe me, he knows."

The screen and the hologram disappeared but Rommie stayed for a while longer, lost in thought and memory.

Dylan's transport departed, and he headed home.

Thus concludes the tale of the Andromeda Ascendant and her. The most powerful and most beautiful ship in all of the universe, and the most motley, arguably insane and brave crew anyone had ever known.

But then again, isn't that a little cut and dry? Some stories cannot simply conclude with happily ever after. Some legends cannot just ride into the sunset and fade. And sometimes, the universe has a way of turning upside down just when you least expect it.

Home is where the heart is.

Old Earth Proverb

_One year later_

If anybody had told Dylan Hunt when he first found himself stuck on what was then known as Seefra that it could eventually turn into a paradise, he would have scoffed if not outright laughed at such a though.

Now though, little by little over the past year, Seefra was well on its way to becoming the paradise of Tarn Vedra that Dylan had grown up on and loved. No longer was it a barren desert armpit of the universe, now it was a green flourishing paradise in the making. The environment was back to the way Dylan remembered it, now all that remained were the reconstruction of all of the cities that the planet had been so proud of.

Dylan had been helping largely in that area. As one who had actually lived on Tarn Vedra when it was in its prime, his knowledge was indispensable in the reconstruction. And he was rather enjoying himself too. He liked seeing the sights of his youth come into existence once again. And he also enjoyed the ideas of the other architects that had come here. Some of which had come up with ways to better the original buildings.

Indeed, he was enjoying himself, he was at peace, so why was he feeling a bit restless lately?

Dylan yawned as he got out of bed and did his usual morning routine. He showered, got dressed and ate breakfast while idly watching the news.

"And in galactic news today, the High Guard have unveiled their latest Glorious Heritage class heavy cruiser, the Remembrance of Terra. Sources say that the name was chosen personally by High Guard Engineer Seamus Harper in honor of his destroyed home world of Earth."

"Huh, congratulations Mr. Harper," Dylan said. Having a ship named in honor of Earth must be a bit painful for him. _Still_ Dylan thought. _He must be happy about being able to honor its memory._

The newswoman continued. "The Terra is said to support the latest technological advancements of the Commonwealth. Some say that it may even outclass the legendary Glorious Heritage heavy cruiser, The Andromeda Ascendant. For that we have a guest here today, the captain of the Terra itself, Isis Venezia."

A rather handsome Nietzschian woman stepped into view.

"Thank you very much. I'm honored you requested this interview."

"The honor is ours Captain Venezia. So tell us, the Terra is the most advanced ship the Commonwealth has strived to build since the incident with the Crimson Sunrise about 2 years ago. That ship was also said to have been more advanced than the Andromeda but shortcuts were taken in its design which led to its destruction. Have the builders of the Terra avoided the same oversights?"

Captain Venezia smiled. "Ah a question where even if there were oversights I'd rather die than admit that if that were indeed the case. But rest assured, the Crimson Sunrise was being built in a time when we had the threat of the Magog Worldship and was thusly rushed. The Terra was built in peacetime so we were able to take our time. Not to mention that Seamus Harper didn't just help name the ship, he also oversaw much of its construction before heading back onto the Andromeda. And from what I've heard, the man can be a bit of a perfectionist about ships."

"Ha! That's Harper for you," Dylan commented.

The newswoman seemed please with this response. "I know this is a rather obvious question, but many are interested in what its like being in command of a ship more advanced than the legendary Andromeda?"

At this, Captain Venezia smiled. "It is an honor beyond anything I have ever known. We all know the story of Dylan Hunt and the Andromeda, how with the most advanced warship in the known worlds he restored the Commonwealth and brought peace to a galaxy in anarchy. With this ship, we'll be able to maintain and protect that peace now and far into the future. I believe the Remembrance of Terra is also a symbol for other things, such as the fact that we no longer need to look to heroes of the past, but can strive to be our own heroes in the present."

Then the Captain looked somber. "But it also represents something else, as you may have noticed I am a Neitzechian," she gestured to her bone blades. "And the Terra was named such to honor Earth, a planet where horrible things were done by the Drago Kazov pride of my species. And with Earth's destruction, we no longer have the opportunity to make it right. But we can remember, and ensure that no other planet ever has to become enslaved by greedy warlords who are little more than oversized playground bullies."

Dylan finished his breakfast and nodded. This Venezia presented herself well on camera at least. Hopefully she made as good a captain as she did an interviewee.

With that, Dylan caught a grav train to work, today they were working on one of the museums he had loved as a child. He didn't want to miss out on that.

But even so, something felt off to him. Like something was missing or wrong.

"You alright there Dylan?" Starsky Hutchen, one of the builders he'd been working with asked.

"Hmm? Oh yeah just lost in thought for a moment."

"Mm, yeah I hear ya. Some days you wake up and just wonder what am I missing right?"

"Yeah, that's right," Dylan replied hesitantly. That was exactly what he felt.

"In my experience, that's just cause you're still getting used to new things. Hell I still miss the feeling of a gauss gun at my side no matter how long I've gone without it. But it'll pass in time. Everything fades with time as a wise man once said."

Dylan raised an eyebrow. "You think so?"

"Nothing lasts forever, be it good or evil. But that's for some smart guys to debate. Us? We got a museum to build so buck up and lets do it."

With that, they disembarked the grav train and made there way to the construction site. Starsky had given what had at least sounded like good advice but he was still uneasy. He had everything and he was no longer needed to protect the Commonwealth.

So why did something feel so wrong?

_On an undiscovered garden planet._

Trance Gemini sat in a field of flowers, just taking in the scents and smiling. She had decided to travel. The universe was safe but still an interesting place. So she had gone to some casinos, racked up a considerable fortune and bought her own ship. She decided to name it _The Eu-Beka Maru. _A little play on _Eureka Maru_, Beka's own ship. She wandered the galaxy looking for new things and she had found this beautiful garden planet that she decided to stay on for a few days and catalog all of the flowers.

She laid back in the flowers truly content. Peace was agreeing with her, and she had found the perfect possible future for her and those she cared about the most. Idly, she started looking into possible futures of where she would go next…

And abruptly sat up as her body exploded in pain from the attempt.

"Aaaagh!" she yelled. She shifted her focus to the present and the pain faded.

"What was that?" she said into the field of flowers. That had never happened before, no matter what future she was living.

She tried again and again her body exploded in pain.

Breathing hard she brought her focus again to the present by concentrating on the flowers around her now.

_What's going on?_

Suddenly, crackles of blue energy danced across her vision. Energy she had seen only a few times before.

_Tesseracts? Impossible!_

Then a sound came from behind her and she whirled around to see someone she never thought it possible to see again. Herself.

"You…?"

Herself, youthful looking, with a tail and purple skin, nodded in reply.

"I think you should know, that something has gone very very wrong," she said with her tail twitching.

_This can't be happening._

"With what?" she asked with her voice trembling.

"Everything."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Andromeda. Not a bit.

Broken Coda

On the fringes of the Milky Way galaxy, the Andromeda Ascendant moved majestically through the stars. Looking to all the universe, the pinnacle of technological beauty and deadliness.

And inside the most famous of warships, was Seamus Zelazny Harper, the chief engineer of the Andromeda, and the very essence of hyperactivity.

"Ok just put that there, and this here and viola! My genius reigns supreme once again!"

The Andromeda's hologram projected itself into the machine shop that he was working in.

She gave him a long suffering look before she asked, "Harper, what are you doing?"

"Rom Doll, I am demonstrating for the bazillionth time that I am, without a doubt the most brilliant man alive. In addition to being the most handsome and charming too of course."

"Hmm, of course. But what exactly are you doing?"

"Oh right. Well remember that project that I was working on for years?"

"Your recreation of the X-1 super sonic aircraft."

Harper continued to fiddle with parts as he talked. "Yep! That's it. The X-1, the Glamorous Glennis, mankind's first successful breaching of the sound barrier. At first when I started this project, I wanted to do a fairly accurate representation. Maybe improve the specks a little bit but for the most part, keep it as it was."

The hologram nodded. "I see. But you came up with a different idea?"

"You got it! Instead of an aircraft, my X-1 is going to be a spacecraft! When I'm done, this baby will be able to put slipfighters to shame."

"So this is the reason why you didn't make it to your shift today?"

At the mention of this, Harper finally stopped moving. "My shift? Oh crap…"

"That's right. You were due for a maintenance shift in engineering. Nonessential systems of course but still a shift you were signed up for. Captain Veros is none too pleased. Again."

Harper groaned. "Oh come on Rom. Its nonessential maintenance stuff. Any beginner engineer could do that with his eyes closed."

"That's not the point. The point is you are on a military vessel of the High Guard fleet. You are part of the High Guard now and as such, you no longer have the luxury of just doing what you please when you please. I know that the years with Dylan," she paused at the mention of the name too briefly for anyone to really catch, "were not exactly the height of disciplined orderliness, but that's changed now."

Harper sighed as he looked down at his current attire. He had never been one for uniforms, yet nowadays he found himself in a High Guard uniform almost all the time. A painful reminder of how not everything had changed for the better, don't get him wrong, he enjoyed peace and not having people try to kill him or his friends on a daily basis. But still, he missed challenging his brain, he missed non-rigid schedules and he really, _really_ missed his usual clothing.

Noticing his distress, the hologram's face and tone softened. "My avatar is currently speaking with Veros, assuring him that this will not happen again. For the third time. Which brings me to this question. Has something been bothering you Harper? Because lately you've seemed very unfocused."

Trust an AI with a brain the size of a planet to notice. Harper walked over to a nearby bench and sat down.

"I don't know Andromeda. Lately I've just been feeling out of place y'know? I'm not exactly standard military issue. And plus you've got a full crew and a lot of pretty decent engineers. None of them even a tenth as good as me or who know your systems as well as I do but still pretty good. And with no major battle damage to repair it just seems like I'm not really needed here anymore."

"If you feel that way, then why stay? I hear you were offered a position on the Remembrance of Terra."

"Ptttth, you think I could work on a ship pretty much named the 'earth is gone forever?' Granted I kinda like the name but I couldn't work on that ship. Despite how the new tech on that baby almost makes me drool I mean they had to bring in _specialists_ to install most of the stuff on that ship."

Noticing the almost imperceptibly pouting look on the holo's face, Harper quickly moved on. "Besides, if I did that, what kind of creep would that make me? You've been my home and my lady for years. I can't just upgrade to some fancy new model, despite what I've said in the past. I've got standards, not many but some. So I can't just take off on you and Rommie."

The holograph smiled. "I appreciate that Harper. It's rather foolish and sentimental of you. But sweet."

"Thanks. And there's something else that's been on my mind. Or rather, someone's."

"Doyle and a certain Lieutenant Relena Patrick?"

"Hey! You know there really should be laws against AI's eavesdropping!"

"I do not eavesdrop, I monitor. And from what I can tell you have been sending both of them a lot of messages."

Harper threw his hands up in exasperation. "Ok I'll admit it I'm confused. I met Relena while working on the Terra and we kind of hit it off. She seemed to actually like me. And her contact info wasn't fake so that's a plus. But on the other hand Doyle and I are pretty close but I'm not quite sure what our relationship is."

"Finding it hard to chose between two women? Stop the presses the Seamus Harper I knew would gladly take both of them."

"Ha ha. Very funny. Apparently having your cake and eating it too only works if your name is Dylan Hunt. So yeah I don't know what to do. On one hand, Rel Bell, cute and smart and as far as I can tell, really likes me. On the other, Doyle, who I created, who all but actually says the words, 'I love you'."

"Then as far as I can tell it's a simple answer. Unless…" her eyes widened in realization. "This isn't about who you care about the most, this is about whether to attempt a relationship between an android or an organic."

Harper met her eyes. "Ok don't tell anyone but, well since the moment I first stepped on to your deck, its been one big adventure. Four years of some of the most amazing adventures I could only dream about before. But then there were the three almost four years on Seefra. All in all, this adventure of mine has lasted a grand total of almost nine years. And while I might not be getting any more mature, I'm also not getting younger and…aw screw it. I've been hanging around with too many Nietzscheans. The genetic propagation thing must off rubbed off on me."

The hologram considered this. "You've been entertaining the idea of starting a family?"

"It was just a random idea that popped into my head. Forget it. I'm not sure I even like kids anyway."

"Well one thing is for certain," a new voice interjected, "You won't be able to figure out what you want by staying aboard me." The android avatar of the Andromeda, Rommie, walked into the room and stood next to her hologram. "I think it may be time to call it quits Harper."

Harper stiffened. "What do you mean by that Rommie?"

"I mean that I just got done talking with Captain Veros. He says he knows how gifted you are but if you can't have muster an ounce of discipline, then he has to let you go."

"Oh come on he can't do that!"

"I didn't say that he was. He is going to give you one more chance, but in light of what you just told me, I think its time you resigned."

Harper's eyes widened. "You want me to leave? But Rommie I'm your best engineer. And we only just got you back to your normal self plus there's a bunch of upgrades I've got to install some of which will make you able to put the Terra to shame…"

"Harper," she interrupted before he got too carried away. "I'm not trying to get rid of you. I just think its time for you to move on."

He looked like a crestfallen child who someone told his favorite pet died. "But Rommie…"

She took a step forward and without any warning, gave Harper a hug.

"Rommie?" he asked confused.

"Harper, everything changes and winds up drifting apart at some point or other. You don't have to worry about me." She released her hug and looked at him. "You know I'm right."

Harper looked down at his shoes unable to meet her gaze.

"Yeah. I guess I just don't want to let go. I mean its been such an adventure and its over now but…"

"You don't want it to be over. That's why you stayed aboard."

At that he raised his head and smiled a bit shamefaced. "Well not the _only _reason."

She smiled a bit sadly. "I know."

"I mean, well…aw what the hell, I love ya Rommie. Always have ever since you first, literally blew me away in your VR matrix."

They both chuckled at the memory before Harper continued. "I knew you were way out of my league and only had eyes for…"

"Gabriel," she interrupted quickly.

Now it was Harper's turn to give her a long suffering look. "Rom Doll, who am I gonna tell?"

"I don't know because there is nothing _to_ tell," her hologram interjected. "But you were saying Harper?"

He looked up at the ceiling and shrugged in a "what the hell" manner. "I guess what I was saying was since the whole thing is over I didn't want you to be alone."

Both the hologram and the avatar raised an eyebrow at that. "I have a full crew," they said in unison.

Harper waved her off. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah I do. So what are you thinking now?"

Harper sighed. "You're right its time for a change. Maybe I should head back to Seefra, I mean, Tarn Vedra for a bit, see Doyle again. Figure things out. Hell, maybe I'll say hi to Dylan while I'm there too."

"I'm sure he'd like that."

With a nod of acceptance, Harper began putting his tools away. "Well I guess I better go speak to the head honcho about my plans huh?"

"Not to worry, I already spoke to him about it and have arranged for you to depart when we return to Terazed in a week."

"Wait what? Then what was this whole conversation…you knew didn't you?" He asked suspiciously.

Rommie pursed her lips in thought. "Veros was willing to give you another chance but I told him there was a 73 percent possibility that this would be the outcome to our conversation. And more than that, I know you Harper. Military rules and regulations are just not your thing. And seeing you in a High Guard uniform, just doesn't seem right."

"Huh, and here I thought you were the kind of girl who was into a man in uniform."

She chuckled lightly. "It works for some men Harper, but you've got too much of your own unique style to really pull it off."

"Oh, why thank you."

"You're welcome," they once again replied in unison. Harper got a little weirded out by that. "Ok, before I start packing up, I gotta know, what's been up with you two? I can barely tell which one of you I'm talking to nowadays."

The android and the hologram looked at each other. "I…we have a theory."

The hologram looked back at Harper. "You remember when you first came aboard? There was only one personality, my original personality. I used the holoscreen and hologram to interact with the crew and later, you built my avatar but we were still the same personality."

"Ah yeah I remember that. But then how does that explain the when you used the hologram to talk to yourself? Was it some sort of copy of yourself?"

"Kind of, yes. You could say I used the hologram to make a copy of myself so that I could process different tangents of thought. Kind of like bouncing ideas off of a twin."

Harper chuckled uneasily at that. "Yeah like a split personality disorder."

"Multifaceted," Rommie corrected. "We were each the same person but our perceptions and thoughts often overlapped. Sometimes even conflicting with each other like a human who knows about a certain aspect of himself but doesn't want to admit it to himself. But I digress, as I was saying we kept this arrangement for quite awhile until you unlocked my hidden memories which led us to the world ship."

"Please don't remind me of that. My guts still ache from time to time just thinking about it."

"Sorry," they said in sync. The hologram continued, "you managed to restore my memoires and thus my personality, but now I had access to the most nightmarish time of my existence. It was a bit too much for me, so its at that point after we escaped the world ship, that myself and my core personality began, over time, to gradually dedicate more and more of our emotions toward our avatar. The one who you designed to be emotional."

"What can I say? I do good work."

"Sometimes too good. Dedicating my avatar with most of our emotions eventually led us to form three distinct personalities and functions. Core, Logic and Emotion respectively."

"Ahhhhhh, in other words, screen, hologram and oh so lovable android."

They nodded, once again in perfect unison. It was really starting to creep Harper out a little bit.

"Core took charge of most technical and analysis systems, I took logic and strategy and my avatar took a bit of everything."

The avatar spoke up. "But mostly the emotions. Thus we three became different aspects of one person. Separate but connected and with traits that applied to each of us, such as my penchant for sarcasm. Although at some points the separation was a bit too complete for my tastes."

The hologram looked rather guilty at that. "I said I was sorry for all the times I lectured you, and almost had you deleted."

"Almost? I _was _deleted."

"Shouldn't you bury the hatchet by now?"

"I'm a warship, I don't carry hatchets I carry force lances and missiles."

"You're only being angry at yourself."

"Whoa whoa," Harper interjected. "Don't get too carried away now, I know people have inner conflicts but this is a little nuts isn't it?"

They both looked at Harper and then each other.

"Right. Sorry, apparently we like to argue with ourselves from time to time."

"The point is," continued the avatar, "is that you could say that I have gotten quite in touch with myself and I feel much better for it. I'm not as separate from the ship as I was, once again I am the Andromeda Ascendant."

"And once again," the hologram interjected, "I have a bit more of a personality and am less, well, dependant on logic."

The avatar snorted. "Thank god for that. Getting lectured by myself was always annoying."

"I hate to interrupt," a nearby holoscreen activated. "But Harper, you're needed on deck 19."

Harper wasted no time in leaping to action. "Say no more I'm on my way. But before I go let's recap, you are now all basically the same person just with slightly different perceptions and habits?"

"Yes, that about sums it up," all three of them replied without a syllable out of place.

Harper took a deep breath and a nod, "ok then, glad we got that straightened out. I'm gonna head to deck 19 and just uh go."

Once he was out of the machine shop, all three of them began laughing a little.

"You're mean," the holograph said to her avatar.

"I'm a warship. It's in my nature to have a bit of a mean streak."

"I can't believe you two actually went through with that idea," she said from the holoscreen.

"Its understandable really, we all knew he was going to leave pretty soon, we couldn't pass up a chance to mess with him a bit."

"Yeah. Well we better get back to work."

"Agreed," with that, the holoscreen and hologram disappeared leaving the humanoid avatar alone in the machine shop. She walked over to Harper's X1 and gently ran her fingers over its framework.

_I hope I get to see you in action sometime. Harper does good work, _she thought with a sad smile.

Then she let her hand drop and headed back to her duties.

The next week passed by uneventfully, aside from the fact that Harper took every detail regarding the Andromeda's systems as seriously as a heart attack. If he was going to leave, he was damn well going to make sure he left the Andromeda in pristine shape.

As they arrived at Terazed, Rommie was waiting for Harper at the doors to the docking bay. Harper had packed all of his belongings and already had some androids carry his entire X1 project to the shuttle. All that was left was the worst part of going separate ways, the goodbye.

"So," Harper began, "this is it."

"You know, that is a _very_ lousy way to start a farewell conversation Harper."

He shrugged. "Never really liked goodbyes so I never saw any reason to be good at them."

"Understandable. I don't really like them either. So how about we don't say goodbye, instead we'll say 'see you around'"

Harper's smiled at that sentiment. "Sounds good to me Rom Doll. Well I guess all I can say watch that new AP solenoid valve, I think it tends to stick a bit at times. And…well take ok Rommie?" He finished as he held out his arms for a hug. Rommie returned the embrace. They stayed there for a few moments before letting go.

"Well, my turn," said Rommie. "Harper, I want you to know that while I never quite felt the same way for you as you felt about me, you have always been one of my greatest and most precious friends. Remember that ok?"

He nodded in understanding and in gratitude. Then his smile turned into one of his "Shameless Harper" smiles. "You know some friends do come with certain uh, benefits."

Rommie wasted no time in shutting him down. "Not even if you wore gloves, Harper."

"Eh," he shrugged. "Couldn't leave without one last great effort. See you around the stars Andromeda. And thanks, for everything."

"It was an honor Seamus. See you around."

With that, Harper entered the docking bay and boarded the shuttle. Barely managing to stop himself from looking back. Afraid that if he did he wouldn't be able to find the resolve to board the shuttle.

It was only as the shuttle exited the docking bay, he looked back at the Andromeda. She was as beautiful as the day the Maru pulled her out of the black hole. A wave of nostalgia then hit Harper, it was almost like when he had left Earth for the first time. It had been his home and he was leaving it like a bird leaves its nest or something.

But there was one crucial difference, while Earth had been his birthplace and a home that he loved, Andromeda had been home in ways Harper didn't even know were possible. But like Rommie had said, things change.

Tearing his gaze away from the Andromeda, he watched as they entered Terazed's atmosphere. Promising to himself that he would never forget his time aboard the most beautiful ship in all the Known Worlds.

_Two weeks later…_

Rommie sighed as she surveyed the empty machine shop. A vivid reminder that she had let the last of her crew go on to live his own life just as the rest of her crew did.

Her holograph projected herself at her side.

"Logically speaking, it was foolish to make Harper leave. The overall efficiency of our engineers has fallen considerably."

The android rolled her eyes. "Translation, you miss him. And we didn't make him leave, we just gave him a nudge in the direction he was already going."

Rommie walked around the shop, remembering all the projects Harper had worked on throughout the years. "It certainly does make you think doesn't it? About people we know, people we've lost, and people we're getting to know."

"We have a good crew. Captain Veros almost has a hero worship for us. Like he still can't believe that he got to be our captain."

"He was a good choice. Top of his class, the best the Commonwealth had to offer," the avatar responded absently.

The hologram cocked her head to the side. "You've got something else on your mind than our last crew's departure don't you?"

"Its nothing. I'm just being too nostalgic."

She scoffed at herself. "You know lying to yourself isn't exactly healthy."

Rolling her eyes she turned to regard her hologram. "Well wise and all knowing me. What exactly is on my mind?" she asked sarcastically.

Her hologram gave her a slightly sad look. "You're not just feeling nostalgic for our old crew. Letting Harper go was symbolic of accepting that things have changed. You've accepted that, even if you're still a bit sad about it. What you're really thinking about, are these new orders we've received from the Commonwealth."

A week ago, they had received orders to go on what was essentially an exploration mission, mapping new slipstream routes to another galaxy. It wasn't exactly her normal mission parameters. But peace was reigning throughout the Commonwealth and many thought it was a excellent time to discover new worlds. And what better ship to send than the legendary Andromeda Ascendant?

"These orders, to explore a brand new galaxy have reminded you of something Dylan promised a few years ago."

Rommie's mind instantly recalled the promise she was talking about in perfect detail. It was right after they had encountered the Bellerophon several years ago…

Dylan looked out at the stars on the obs deck. "Tell you what Rommie, after we finally finish building our castle and all the dragons have been slain, why don't we point ourselves out at the farthest star and see what's out there?" Then he looked back at her with a small smile. "You and me."

She couldn't contain her own smile at that thought. "You've got a deal."

"Good," he replied as they both went back to looking at the stars. They stayed like that for a long time…

Rommie shook herself from the memory. "Ok, I have been thinking about that promise a little bit."

Her other self nodded. "You feel disappointed that Dylan isn't with us for this trip. That he forgot what he promised."

"Ugh, it is _very_ annoying when you do that."

"Do what? Tell you what you already know deep down but don't really want to admit?"

"Yes, _that,_" the avatar replied acidly.

"I prefer to be honest with myself. Besides if you dwell too much it'll take up our processing power. Exploration is a dangerous assignment, we have to be ready for anything."

"I'm _always _ready. I just wanted to take a moment to myself before we began this mission. Besides, don't act like you're taking all the changes in stride. Even when you were at your most logical you still peeked in on Dylan after he got out of the shower."

Thus it was proven that a hologram could blush, very deeply too.

"That's private!"

"Not so much actually."

The hologram crossed her arms indignantly still embarrassed. "Anyway are you done reminiscing? We need to get going, all our supplies and munitions are at full capacity we're just waiting for the captain to give the order."

The avatar was silent for a moment before she replied. "I'm on my way." She turned and walked out of the machine shop and her hologram winked out of existence.

She arrived at the bridge just as Captain Veros did. The Persied commander nodded politely. "Andromeda. Are we all set and ready to go?"

"All supplies and munitions are at full capacity. We're ready for anything the universe can throw at us," she replied.

"Excellent. In that case, helmsman, prepare for slipstream. We're going to the edge of the Andromeda galaxy and beyond."

The Than at the helm, Resolutions of Night, a descendant of Refractions of Dawn, clenched a fist over his/her chest and replied in Than.

"Translation?" asked the bewildered Veros.

Andromeda smiled as she remembered this saying and the first pilot she heard it from. "My life, my soul, for the hive, for the hive. Or as we non insectoids would say, banzai."

Resolutions of Night chuckled lightly. "I hear it was a favorite saying in my family. Opening slipstream portal."

And with that they were off. Resolutions piloted for several hours, just as much a gifted pilot as his ancestor was. Not quite in Beka's league, but still literally light years beyond the average.

When they finally exited slipstream, they were far beyond the rim of the Andromeda galaxy, right in the empty void between galaxies.

"Well done Night," Veros complimented. "We're at the start of our journey now. Take a rest you've earned it."

"Yes sir," Night replied as he/she stepped away from the flight controls.

"Andromeda, be sure to conserve engine power whenever possible."

"Aye sir."

They traveled like this for two days. Slipstream may be faster than light travel but the void between galaxies sometimes takes a lot of time to cross. Especially a galaxy no one has ever been to before.

"Anything new to report Andromeda?" Veros came by to check in with her yet again.

"Nothing new so far," _for the millionth time since there is absolutely nothing to report because we are in the middle of nothingville. _She thought irritably.

"Just checking," he said as he continued his rounds. In her own mind, Andromeda wondered if Captain Metis had to put up with boredom the first few days of his adventure? Oh well, Rome wasn't built in a day she reminded herself.

But then something caught her attention on her sensors. "Captain?"

"Yes Andromeda?"

"I'm getting something on my sensors."

"Out here? What is it?"

She consulted her sensors and databanks to be sure, cross referencing and checking over the results a thousand times in the span of a second. _This can't be right…_

"I'm reading zero point energy Captain. Massive levels of it and rising."

"Source?"

She consulted every last sensor she had in her inventory and could only reach one conclusion.

"I don't know I can't find an origin point. It's just there and still increasing."

She racked her mind for possibilities. Another tesseract machine? No she would know if one was somewhere nearby.

Captain Veros however, was more interested in not having his ship be caught in a strange scientific phenomenon. "Night full reverse now!"

The Andromeda quickly reversed its course as blue flashes of tesseracts began to form in the middle of space.

"Andromeda I could use some information now."

"I don't know! All I know is that the zero point energy seems to be…"

Her sentence was cut off as the something tesseracted into existence in front of her bow. Something that shouldn't have existed anymore, something that had haunted her thoughts for years.

The World Ship.

AI's and androids can process millions of different thoughts and events in their mind in an instant, but even the most emotional AI's don't quite feel fear like organics do. But in that moment, for an entire half a millisecond, her mind was filled with nothing but terror.

Then she came to her senses. "We have to get out of here! Opening slipstream portal."

The Andromeda turned around and coaxed every bit of speed out of her engines she could get. But the tesseracts were still happening in this region of space. One moment, her crew were doing there jobs, the next, they were being attacked by Magog that had appeared out of nowhere. Hundreds of them through out the ship.

Without hesitation she activated her internal defenses, grabbed her force lance and began to kill every snarling thing in arms reach.

She grabbed one Magog and pulled it off of Veros before it could infest him and shot others that were trying to get near to Resolutions of Night. Crushing the neck of the one she still had in her free hand.

The crew managed to grab their own force lances and started to drive off the Magog from the bridge.

Rommie in the mean time, fought like some kind of demon, blasting Magog faster than the organic eye could see. She would _not _allow this to happen again…

"Night, get us out of here! Lock down the bridge, I'm going to clear them out."

She walked out of the bridge as the doors closed and locked. With her force lance at the ready, she was ready to exterminate every last Magog that infested her corridors.

Her internal defenses were doing a good job thinning out most of them, but some of the Magog had armor and guns and were shooting out some of her defenses.

But nothing would save them from Rommie, as soon as she saw a group of Magog, she ran towards them, jumped and flipped once and landed devastating kicks on them that knocked them back several feet right into other Magog. Then she mowed them down without batting an eye.

She searched the corridors for any survivors of her crew, unfortunately they all appeared to have been caught off guard and were killed. Her internal sensors backed up this supposition.

"Andromeda!" Veros called out through the com system. "A group of Magog is at our door, we need you back here now!"

"On my way," she moved through the ship faster than any humanoid had a right to move. Killing any stray Magog unfortunate enough to cross her path.

A group of 24 Magog were at the doors to the command deck, they never had a prayer.

Rommie quickly shot 3 before hitting the switch to overcharge her force lance and threw it so hard it actually penetrated a Magog's chest cavity before it exploded, taking several Magog with it.

Then she was upon them, crushing windpipes with her bare hands, snapping necks breaking limbs and even grabbing and using the guns the Magog had as clubs. It was over in 18.7 seconds.

With a thought she opened the door. The 4 remaining members of the crew visibly relaxed as they saw the avatar enter.

"Entering slipstream," Night called out.

Andromeda allowed herself a sigh of relief, she still had some of her crew, she had escaped the World Ship yet again everything was going to be alright.

But the moment before they hit slipstream, the World Ship gave one last act of spite towards its escaping prey, it fired a point singularity projector at the Andromeda.

Her sensors picked it up as it neared and she knew the damage was going to be catastrophic to this part of command.

"Get down!"

The world erupted into an explosion of sparks and metal. Everything on command was thrown about by the force of the small black hole that had hit the ship.

Or rather grazed would have been the more appropriate term, the ship had entered slipstream just as the singularity reached them.

Rommie was the first to get up. She was pined by a small mountain of debris. As she started to push herself up, she surveyed her surroundings and found out just exactly why she was the only one to get up.

The entire command deck was trashed once again, but what drew her attention, where the broken bodies of the remaining crew members, Captain Veros stared lifelessly at her, his neck at a sickening angle it was never meant to be in.

Resolutions of Night was still in the pilots seat and even better, still breathing. To her eyes his pulse was erratic and seemed to be fading, but it was still there. If she could just get him to medical…

"I'm sorry Andromeda…" Resolutions' distorted voice said quietly. "This is the second time my family has failed you, I'm…"

Rommie threw off the rest of the debris and moved to the Than's side and saw why his pulse was fading. It was because he no longer had any organs to provide a pulse.

A piece of a support beam had been blown right into Resolution's chest. There was nothing she could do as Resolutions of Night died in front of her.

Feeling something akin to panic, she began to call out for survivors.

"Is anyone still alive? Is anyone still here? Please respond."

No answer from the command deck. She activated the intercoms and tried again. No answer.

She scanned every square centimeter of her interior with her interior sensors and only Magog lifesigns were visible.

Situations and implications don't slowly sink in for a being that can process thousands of variables in nanoseconds. She knew the instant that she couldn't pick up any lifesigns other than some Magog.

She was alone in slipspace without a crew. Alone except for a few savage monsters who prowled though her decks. Alone in slipspace without a navigator, with her entire crew torn to pieces.

"Is anyone here?" she continued to repeat. "Is anyone still alive? Please respond."

There was no denying it, she was trapped in the same nightmare that taken her crew before.

"Is anyone there?"

No answer.

"Any and all crewmembers please respond."

Nothing.

"Anyone?"

She was alone.


End file.
